Bat Walk - 6th June 2014

On 6th June, 2014, 18 people were treated to a guided 'bat walk', led by Alan Wragg of the Derbyshire Bat Group. After assembling in the main car park, on the east side of the Park at 9pm, Alan spoke to us about bats in general and issued each of us with a bat detector. As it began to get dark, we then set off, very slowly, along the footpath down the long wood which leads to the Lake, eventually ending up at the duck-feeding platform at the end of the Upper Lake, by which time it was well after 11pm.

Along the way we saw three of the 18 bat roosting boxes, acquired by FOAP in 2012 and erected with the help of Alan. all the boxes were inspected in November, 2013, revealing no bats in residence but, according to Alan, we may have to wait a couple of years or more for success.

Alan Wragg addressing us in the car park.

The party using our bat detectors in the wood. Here we detected pipistrelles, the smallest of British bats, and saw some of them against the sky.

A Bat Detector: This converts the ultasonic sounds produced by the bats (made by them in order to detect their insect prey and to avoid obstacles in complete darkness) to audible sound. As we found out, each species of bat makes its own characteristic set of clicks and warbles - as converted by the detector - and produce them at different frequencies.

The three species of bats that we encountered on the walk.

Daubenton's and Noctule were detected over the Lake. Daubenton's Bat skims low over the water, even taking insects from the surface, hence its other name of 'water bat'.

The Noctule is Britain's largest bat, with its characteristic reddish fur.

FOAP are very grateful to Alan and other members of the Derbyshire Bat Conservation Group for leading such an interesting and entertaining walk.